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Change Your Sleeping Habits

Confession Of A Troubled Sleeper

As sleep goes, it’s never been one of my strengths. I’m an intrinsic worrier and you can be sure, I manage to save up any anxieties until right before bedtime or approximately 3am in the morning. Don’t get me wrong, I love sleep, given the chance, I would allow myself several naps in a day. The trouble is when impending sleep is looming over me; it’s the last thing I’ll prioritise. I’ve read up on sleep, I know there’s a recommended amount but I know we’re all different and therefore require varying amounts of sleep to function properly. I’m pretty clear that I need a lot of sleep to function. A morning really does feel tough unless I’ve had a solid 8 hours but that never happens and I get it, it’s my own fault.

I drink a lot of tea, rarely past 5pm but caffeine is a staple. I figure tea is the solution to most problems, feeling sad…… have a cuppa! Lost your keys…… put the kettle on!  It’s not ideal and it certainly won’t help me sleep but the cycle of increased caffeine and poor sleep, only makes my morning canteen coffee all the more important. And yes, I tried to give it up once, I felt awful for a week but gradually it got better, however, I love a cuppa.

I have a terrible bedtime routine. I’ll make the effort to enjoy my evenings after work, spend some time with my husband, phone my family and preparing for bed is the last thing I want to do. Its my free time and I’ll be damned if I let sleep or ‘lack of‘ steal that from me. What this in turn means is that all the jobs required to ‘adult’ and get myself to work the next day are put off until the absolute last minute. Packing my gym bag for the next day is usually a mad panic before I eventually decide to go to bed.

I’m pretty easily distracted. I don’t usually want to go to sleep; the stress of lying there knowing I should get some rest more often than not, makes me find something else to do. I know bright lights aren’t good for my sleep but if I watch television or take a quick look at instagram, that’s got to be more relaxing than lying here in the dark, worrying about whether I left the oven on.

There are a couple of things I do well or have tried to, I exercise regularly, I eat well and never too late at night and my bedroom is a calm and relaxing space. Surely, that should entice me in to a deep slumber…..evidently not. Whilst my husband sleeps soundly, I am wondering whether I completed my timesheet or not.

So there it is, an admission of poor sleep. I know what I’m doing wrong, and now that I’m nearing 30, I figure sleep has to be prioritised. So for the next week, sleep has to be top of the list. My plan is:

  • Prepare for the next day as soon as I am home from work (don’t leave it till the last minute). This includes making lunch, packing my gym bag and making sure my outfit is ironed and ready to go.
  • Cut the caffeine, a coffee in the morning and a cup of tea in the afternoon will do. You will survive. In the event of an emergency, an additional cup of tea may be necessary but peppermint tea should now be your main source of comfort.
  • Establish a bedtime routine. This is a tough one but I figure that no TV, no phone, no technology an hour before bed has to help. The NHS and National Sleep Foundation tell me so. I might even try a book, something I used to love.
  • Keep a notepad by my bed. Whilst I manage to forget a number of things during the day, they all creep back to me at night. I’ll write them down; they’re jobs that can be done tomorrow.

And so, I will document my week of sleep and let you know how it goes. If I look livelier, healthier and less like my immune system is taking a beating, you’ll know its working!

So, Sunday night…..I’d made sure that all was packed for the morning before I started to wind down for the evening. It took a fair bit of thinking about to make sure everything was done and I still managed to find a few jobs that slipped my mind but overall it wasn’t too bad. I started reading my book about 9.30, ready for bed by 10.30. It’s pretty magic. I felt sleepy very quickly, couldn’t keep my eyes open, and wondered if I would even finish the sentence. So I made the decision to go to sleep, but in making that decision, I found that I was starting to wake up. That wasn’t part of the plan. I’d read my book, I didn’t drink tea, I felt sleepy, surely I should be out like a light by now. So I put some music on really quietly and off I went. It wasn’t the best night sleep, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. My Fitbit told me I had 7hrs 18 minutess sleep and woke up 4 times and I managed not to reach for a coffee until 10am. If this is my first night, I’m sure that by Friday, I’ll be a well rested, sleep loving individual.

Monday night. I don’t quite have the stringent routine I thought I might have but knowing there are things I need to get done and doing them is helping. I tried something different this time, an audiobook. Whilst part of me, felt slightly embarrassed, being like a small child listening to Roald Dahl as bedtime was upon me, the other part of me was too asleep to care. Sleep was calling to me, and before I knew it… I’d had a full 7hrs and 34 minutes of uninterrupted rest. I was calm, I addressed any stresses or worries I had quickly and sleep took over. I still felt sleepy on Tuesday morning and wasn’t quite as sprightly as I should have been.  It wasn’t perfect but it was pretty great!

Tuesday night. So it’s at this point, I need to be honest, I was working away from home and a night in a hotel disrupted what was quickly becoming a new sleep routine. A later dinner, an unfamiliar setting and a late night cuppa and I was back to square one. I’ve never slept well in a hotel but I’m pretty sure it’s because I don’t prioritise sleep when I’m away from home.  I have realised though that it’s the choices I make that cause me to have a bad nights sleep.  It’s not about the fact I’ve worked later, I’ve had dinner later or my pillow isn’t the same as the one at home. It’s pretty clear to me that I make a choice to watch TV a little longer than I should or forget to bring a book or decide to use my phone as I feel disconnected from home. These are things within my control, things I can change.

So, Wednesday and Thursday followed suit. I was a little off track, had travelled for work and figured I could take my sleep routine a little easier.

By Friday, I realised there was a choice I needed to make, adjust my routine and stick to it. It won’t always be easy but the reason I don’t get the best nights sleep is often down to choice. Yes, being an over-thinker doesn’t help but if there are elements within my control, then I absolutely should be in control of them. So whilst, it wasn’t the most successful trial it certainly educated me on the decisions I make when it comes to sleep. And fingers crossed, this routine becomes a habit I can keep.

Elizabeth Wade, Talent Manager, @one Alliance